Chicken Curry Recipe

Chicken curry has always been my favorite, but I hardly make chicken curry from scratch. But this past weekend, I felt motivated and wanted to make chicken curry properly, without cheating with instant curry paste. And so I did.

There are many different varieties of chicken curry available in Malaysia: Indian, Muslim-Indian (Mamak), Chinese, Malay, and Nyonya. There are many chicken curry recipes but each takes after the basics of chicken curry, adapts, and enhances it accordingly. While different version renders its distinct taste (and presentation), the underlying flavors of chicken curry are pretty much the same–spicy, rich, aromatic, highly addictive, potentially aphrodisiac, and remarkably scrumptious…

Chicken curry can also be “wet” or “dry.” The wet version is watery (mostly from coconut milk and water) and the dry version has a thicker curry gravy and tastes more intense. The recipe I am sharing today is Curry Chicken Kapitan–a “dryer” curry and a Nyonya adaptation of Indian chicken curry. (Kapitan is the name given to appointed Chinese chiefs during the Portuguese and Dutch colonization in Malaysia.)

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Hi, i m a Malaysian (Penangite!) currently living in Sacramento area, CA..Wish to know where can i get the Candlenuts (Buah Keras)? Wihtout this ingredient, will the Curry Chicken Kapitan aroma remains? Thanks!

Bee, where online can I find fresh ingredients to be delivered like ” Templeofthai”? There site has been closed for maintenance for months! I live in a rural part of Tx now after living in Singapore for a year. We fell in love with all the fresh chillis and kafir lime leaves spices and so on… I’m unable to cook our favorites. Please help!!!

Jennifer, where in Texas do you live? I used to live in DaLLas, Tx for almost thirty years and never had any problem finding spices and herbs or any exotic ingredients for cooking ethnic food. I know Dallas and Houston have H-Mart and some cities in Texas have Hong Kong super market, and all sorts of Asian and Indian super markets. H-Mart is on NW side of George Bush Hwy and Old Denton Rd. in Carrollton, Dallas’ suburb. About a mile or so away from H-mart there are several Indian and Asian groceries stores. I have a kafir lime bush that I purchased from H-mart here in Atlanta, GA. You can plant most of the herbs and rhizomes (ginger, galangal, and turmeric, and lemon grass) in your garden or pots. I grow all of these in my garden and freeze them for future use. I freeze everything. Good luck to you.

Until I visited Malaysia, I’d never had Nyonya cooking. I fell in love with it, of course, and brought back several wonderful cookbooks. I’ve made many different Malaysian curries, but never this one. So now I’ve got a wonderful recipe to add to my repertoire!

hi bee yin, a fan of your frm klang. I was in Penang over the weekend, went the whole of island searching for the A1 curry chicken paste but couldnt find it. And then I just happen to visit the TTDI market looking for saffron, and there it is. The best curry chicken paste! :) have yet to try it….

i’m a big fan of yours here in england. i’m goin to make these recipe today for dinner. but i can’t find fresh turmeric. can i used the conventional grounded and bottled one? if yes, how much tbsp or tsp for these recipe? thank you so much.

Master – yes, you can use turmeric powder. As to how much, I would say you can start with 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon first and add more if you wish. It’s mostly for the color and also the turmeric aroma. Taste the flavor, if it’s not enough, add more. :)

Hi,I am an Australian with a Nyonya wife from Penang living in Shanghai:) My wife speaks Mandarin very well but cannot write but can read a little (Convent Light School). My Ayi cooks Shanghainese which is horrible and greasy and cold. I found Curry Kapitan and using Google Translate, I came up with this translation :) Can someone advise if this is anywhere near correct? I cannot find Chinese translation for Candlenuts. I hope the Chinese characters post correctly.

1>> 混合所有的香料非常精细粘贴。 [Blend all spices to a very fine paste.]2>> 热了一些烹调油在炒锅和炒粘贴到芳香或薄薄的一层油上升到顶端。。 [Heat up some cooking oil in a wok and stir-fry paste until aromatic or a thin layer of oil rises to the top.]3>> 添加买鸡，并继续搅拌，直到它几乎煮熟。 [Add chicken and continue stirring until it's almost cooked.]4>> 加入椰奶和继续炖煮另一15-20分钟，小火。 [Add the coconut milk and continue to simmer for another 15-20 minutes, over low heat.]5>> 添加盐味和服务热[Add salt to taste and serve hot.]

i just finished cooking this delicious curry. but u really should’ve put in the recipe that lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves need to be seperated.. cos i blended the lemon grass all together with the spice paste. lucky i did put lime leaves seperate .. frm experience. it taste delicious anyway, just a bit rough in textures due the lemon grass being blended in it. i also added some water cos i like more watery curry. thanks for the recipe.. this is my first attempt making curry and its actually eatable ahaha…

I just love trawling through food sites & yours is just incredible.Superb Photography adds to the success of all your recipes because we can judge what the finished product should look like.
I enjoy your writing style & since I am very much home bound, the different blogs transport me to worlds that are so different from ours, bringing the exotic and the unusual right to my doorstep. My deep desire to travel & see the world is often satisfied just going through wonderful blogs like yours. Congratulations. Zeenath

Oh I forgot to ask. In the recipe for Chicken Curry Kapitan, do you actually use 1/2 lb of red chilies? Are these fresh or dried red chilies. !/2 lb in my opinion will be TOO HOT even though we eat very hot food. Is this a typing mistake ? Also we do not get candle nuts or macadamia nuts here? Can we substitute cashew nuts or almonds instead? Thanks

I’ve not used lemon grass powder this chicken curry recipe. Based on the rest of my quantified ingredients for this chicken curry recipe, I suggest start with a spoonfool and continue to add to taste. You can start once the broth starts boiling.

hi, i live in australia and despite my asian background (singaporean!) i’m ashamed to say i don’t know what galangal is. is there a substitute for it that i can use if i can’t find it in asian groceries?

Hi there, this curry recipe looks lovely and very different from my one which is of Indian origin – from my ma in law in fact. Thought you might like to take a look at mine which I have called ‘Amma’s Chicken curry’ and can be found on my blog. Take care Torie

Can you recommend a curry recipe which I can introduce to my three year old? I tried one on the weekend and despite deseeding all the chillies it was still too spicy for her. Btw I’ve got your cookbook and was able to make delicious simple Chinese meals which I didn’t managed to learn from my late mother…so thanks very much! Your blog is one that I visit often for meal ideas :-)